A few high-profile crimes in Bellwood recently might give the impression that crime is on the rise, but police said the opposite is true.
Bellwood had two murders in 2003, down from five the previous year and seven the year before that, according to figures compiled by Bellwood police.
Most other crimes also dropped: sexual assaults went from 17 in 2002 to 13 in 2003; robberies dropped to 61 from 88; assaults fell from 87 to 83; thefts went from 565 to 527; and arsons dropped 50 percent, to 1.
Only motor vehicle thefts rose, from 140 in 2002 to 204 in 2003. Burglaries were unchanged at 94.
Police thought they might be investigating a carjacking in January, when a man identified as Pierre Blakeman crashed his vehicle while fleeing from a traffic stop in Bellwood and fled by jumping into the passenger seat of a passing car.
But after reading an account of the incident in the newspaper, the driver said he had picked up a pedestrian who claimed somebody was chasing him, but he dropped off the man.
In December, assailants fired into a car occupied by Bellwood resident Dwight Clark outside a convenience store in the suburb, killing him. And in June last year, Cedrick Ashford, 28, of Bolingbrook was found shot to death in his car on a Bellwood street.
Wilson Pierce, Bellwood public safety director, said the reduced crime is tied to changes to the police patrol structure, such as placing supervisors on the street and shortening response times.
